Just hours after Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed the Texas legislature’s controversial abortion bill into law, the nonprofit family planning organization Planned Parenthood announced that it would be shutting the doors to three of its facilities in Texas.

The facilities being shut down are located in Bryan, Huntsville and Lufkin, Texas. These facilities closing will bring Texas down from 20 to 17 centers. The centers being closed are located in rural areas of the state, far from other services.

The law will effectively force licensed clinics to reach newly mandated standards that are equivalent to ambulatory surgical centers, which explains why these three centers are set to close.

“It is a travesty that Texas politicians are stripping healthcare from women across the state, harming lives and unraveling the health care safety need that has taken decades to build,” said Melaney A. Linton, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

Pro-life groups reacted jubilantly, focusing on the Bryan/College Station closure.

“This is epic news fifteen years in the making,” said David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life. “Thousands of dedicated community members have faithfully prayed and held peaceful vigils outside this abortion center, offered hope and alternatives to turn away prospective Planned Parenthood customers, and educated the community about the harm of Planned Parenthood. These efforts, combined with the decisive action of the Texas Legislature, have finally brought about this closure that is an answer to prayer.”

Currently, just five of the 42 institutions licensed to perform abortions are up to the new standards, which will go into effect on September 1, 2014.

Just before signing the bill, Perry addressed the crowd saying, “This is an important day for those who support life and for those who support the health of Texas women. In signing House Bill 2, we celebrate and further cement the foundation on which the culture of life in Texas is built.”

The new law bans also all abortions after 20 weeks and dictates when and where emergency contraception can be taken.

I’m proud to have signed HB2 today and ensure Texas’ ongoing commitment to protect life. Thank you to all who #Stand4Life!

Texas Democrats expressed their disapproval of the law being passed on social media following the signing. Not surprisingly, State Sen. Wendy Davis did not take kindly to the bill being signed into law.

But Abby Johnson, a former Bryan/College Station Planned Parenthood abortion center director who later became an anti-abortion activist, was exultant.

“This is what grace truly looks like. Knowing that the former abortion clinic I once ran is now closing is the biggest personal victory of my life. From running that facility, to then advocating for its closure, and now celebrating that dream … it shows that my life has indeed come full circle. I am honored to have worked with so many who helped with my conversion and the closure of this facility. We will continue to fight until every abortion clinic in this country has shut its doors.”